Nook takes aim at Kindle Singles with original content for Nook Snaps

Barnes & Noble has sold e-singles as “Nook Snaps” since December 2011, but on Thursday the company announced that it is revamping the program and commissioning original singles content. Nook Snaps will release “3 to 5 new Nook Snaps selections of at least 5,000 words every other month” for $1.99 apiece.

For the first sixty days after publication, Nook Snaps authors get 100 percent of the royalties. After that, the royalty structure matches that offered by B&N’s self-publishing platform Nook Press — so authors will get a 40 percent royalty, assuming that all Nook Snaps are priced at $1.99. (By contrast, Amazon offers a 70 percent royalty on all Kindle Singles.) The originally commissioned Nook Snaps are only exclusive to Barnes & Noble for 60 days; after that, authors can also sell them elsewhere.

Horner told me that Nook Snaps is “not meant to be a program in competition with Amazon Shorts [Kindle Singles]” because it is more “author-centric” and ties into the Nook Press platform — a distinction that doesn’t make much sense to me, since Amazon also stresses that Kindle Singles is a great platform for authors, and both companies are offering extra merchandising support and web page placement for the e-singles.